LA PAZ, Bolivia — After wrapping up the Ecuador leg of his South American pilgrimage Wednesday, Pope Francis flew to Bolivia, where church-state tensions over everything from the environment to the role of the church in society are high on the agenda.
He was greeted on the tarmac with a hug from Bolivian President Evo Morales. The president gave the pope a pouch traditionally used by people in the Andes to hold coca leaves, which they chew to ward off the ill effects of extreme altitude.
Before leaving Ecuador’s capital Quito, Francis met with elderly residents of a nursing home and gave an off-the-cuff pep talk to local clergy, telling them to be humble and to never forget their roots.
The stop in La Paz was being kept to four hours to spare the 78-year-old pope from the taxing 13,120-foot elevation; the rest of his Bolivian stay will be in Santa Cruz.
Bolivian Communications Minister Marienala Paco said Morales decided to cut his speech before the pope to 5 minutes “considering the pope’s health,” state news agency ABI reported.
Francis and Morales have met on several occasions, most recently in October when the president participated in a Vatican summit of grassroots groups of indigenous and advocates for the poor who have been championed by Francis. Their shared views on caring for society’s poorest, and the need for wealthy countries to drastically change course to address climate change have bumped up against Morales’ anti-clerical initiatives that have roiled relations with the local church.
A new constitution in 2009 made the overwhelmingly Catholic nation a secular state, and Andean religious rituals replaced Catholic rites at official state ceremonies.
“There are some challenging issues in terms of Evo Morales taking on a quite combative role against the church, which he sees as a challenge to his authority,” said Clare Dixon, Latin American regional director for CAFOD, the English Catholic aid agency. “The church is also questioning some decisions made about development in the country.”
Morales, who expelled the U.S. ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration, came to power championing Bolivia’s 36 indigenous groups and enshrined their rights in the constitution. But he has alienated lowlands natives by promoting a highway through a nature reserve and authorizing oil and natural gas exploration in wilderness areas.
